Nietzsche Was Right
by AllenFierte
Summary: Man took the apple from the tree of Forbidden Knowledge. And he was cursed for it. The curse to know oneself. And in doing so, he became blind to the Spirits which walk beside him, seeing only his own body and mind and spirit. Know This, secrets cannot be hidden forever. But they are hidden for a reason.


We fear the unknown, and rightly so. We do not stare into the abyss, lest it consume us. But there is still that urge. Humans seek knowledge. But, some knowledge is fit only for the madman, its only place within the Pits of Damnation. And yet, some peer into it, eager to consume the forbidden fruit. It consumes them. Most are broken by the experience. Some are saved from it. And a select few, they thrive in it. At a cost, which none would willingly pay.

(•_•)7

"Hey Issei. Can you die for me?" From her back four great pinions sprung, as black as the night in which they stood. They twined around her form, and cloaked her in a flowing dress of midnight shadows.

Issei tilted his head, and looked at her. Then he shrugged. "Sure."

Now that was unexpected. She had been a fallen for centuries, and an angel for centuries before that. She had seen humans create grand empires, that fell apart just as quickly as they came about. She had seen all manner of humans, and killed the same. But never had she met a human such as this. He seemed to be almost closer in mannerism to her beloved Azazel, or the other High Seraphs of Heaven. Or at least, this side of him was.

It was strange, she decided. For most of the day, he had led her to restaurants, stores, a movie theater, and even an arcade. The whole time, he had been a cheerful, if shy, teenager, intent on impressing his first girlfriend. But now that was gone. In its place, only indifference. She had asked the question many times in the past. Her victims had looked at her in terror, in shock, in disbelief, and occasionally in acceptance. But only one had answered her in indifference. Not as if he didn't think his life was worth anything, but rather as if her question wasn't anything to be concerned with. She could have just as easily asked about the weather, or any manner of question. He would have answered the same.

Just as her beloved Azazel had, all those centuries ago. She was intrigued now, as she had been then. She was considering what to do next, when his voice broke her from her thoughts.

"Hey, if you're gonna kill me, can I have a last request?"

She considered it. There was no harm in it. For all that Issei reminded her of Azazel, he was not him. He held none of the power, none of the weight, none of the intensity of a Governor of the Gregori. In spite of his similarity, he was not Azazel. Not a greater being. He could not harm her any more than an ant could. So she nodded. Issei pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket. "Got a light?"

That was his final request? A light? Well there was no harm in it. A few seconds longer would be no matter. To be honest, she should have already killed him and she still could. It would take but a few seconds and she could be on her way. And yet, she dawdled. Perhaps it was because he had treated her well during their date. Perhaps it was because of how he reminded her of her beloved. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. She would never know.

She held out her hand, and a flame burst into existence. Issei nodded his thanks, and lit his cigarette. He took a deep breath, then exhaled with a sigh. The air grew thick with smoke, and it settled around them like a shroud. Issei let the cigarette hang out of his mouth, and leaned over towards her.

"Hey, Raynare."

Her head whipped around in shock. He should not know that name. She should be Amano Yūma to him. She moved to step back, and run him through with a spear of light, but he held on, pulling her close.

He leaned even closer, and whispered in her ear.

"Mother says you have no place here."

Then her world dissolved into pain. Smoke burned her throat, her blood felt like fire, coursing through her veins. Every bone in her body snapped, the shards tearing apart her insides like shrapnel. And then, there was a pain beyond all others. She looked down at her chest. A blade was buried up to its strange curved wooden hilt. As she slumped to the ground, she looked up at him.

"How..."

Issei just fixed her with a bittersweet smile, before crouching down next to her. He whispered softly in her ear.

"And so the mighty have Fallen."

Then he rose to his full height, and placed a boot on her head. Even as she tried to rise to her feet, he pressed down. And the cold ground was painted crimson.

Issei lifted his boot off of her head. Bending down, he pulled his knife from her chest and turned away, tossing his cigarette over his shoulder and onto her body. Her body burst into flames, and a pillar of smoke began to spiral upwards towards the heavens. Issei just walked away carelessly, leaving the corpse to burn to ashes. Behind him, two girls stepped out from where they had been hiding, and looked down at the burning pyre. One of them turned towards the other, and shrugged.

"Well that throws a wrench in my plans. What do you suggest we do next?"

The other knelt next to the corpse, and plucked a small note from its place on her forehead. She flipped it open and looked it over. "Rias, Issei was just a normal human, right?"

Rias nodded, and looked at her. "Why do you ask?"

Silently, the other girl handed Rias the note, which she read. "Hey, this is for the two hellspawn hiding over there. I'd like to talk at the first possible opportunity, though I regret to inform you that I will be out of town for the week. Perhaps next Sunday? If so, leave a letter at my house with the time you'd like to meet."

Rias turned the note over. On the back was an address. She handed the note back to the other girl.

"Akeno, send him a letter asking him to come to the Occult Research club at his earliest convenience."

The other girl, Akeno, nodded. They both turned away and stepped into a crimson circle that sprung into existence. Rias cast one last look over her shoulder before disappearing.

(•_•)7

Rias was worried. Koneko had been gone far too long for what should have been a short job. She could understand that Koneko might have been delayed by something, but still.

Finally she couldn't wait any longer. She turned to the other girl in the room. "Akeno, I'm worried about Koneko. Please make a gateway. The address is…"

Rias was interrupted by a knock at the door. She looked over at it in confusion. Who could that be? The door clicked open, and the last person Rias expected stepped in.

"You know Gremory, you don't need to be so worried about your servants." Issei Hyoudou stepped inside, carrying something wrapped inside a grey jacket. "But in this case, you would be right for doing so."

He placed the bundle on the couch, and Rias stepped back in shock. A small girl with silver hair lay there. Her face was screwed up in pain, and she was an ashen grey. Issei unwrapped the grey jacket and Rias gasped and rushed over to the girl. The girl's clothes were in tatters, and there were a great many cuts on her arms and torso. Dry blood caked her face and hands, and her breathing was erratic. Issei folded the jacket, which Rias supposed was his, and collapsed onto the couch across from the silver-haired girl.

"I did what I could, but I didn't have the proper supplies to fix her up. Didn't think the hospital was a good idea, so I brought her here. I had to drug her to stop her from screaming. 5 mg of diamorphine and 10 mg/kg of ketamine, in case you needed to know."

Rias hurriedly waved Akeno over. "Take her to her room and start healing her, I'll come in soon and finish the job."

She turned back to Issei and sat down across from him. Her knight, Kiba, had wandered over and stood behind her, a bemused expression on his face. Rias motioned to Issei. "I must thank you for helping my rook, but could you explain what happened?"

Issei pulled a cigarette and lit it. He was about to put it in his mouth, when he paused. "Don't tell Sona?"

Rias gave him a small grin. "After what you've done? I wouldn't think of it. So, talk."

Issei blew out a ring of smoke, and sighed. "Well to start, I just got back to Kuoh tonight. I was on my way back from the train station, when I ran into a strange barrier. It tried to make me go around, but I was tired and decided to just go through. As I was passing one of the houses, I heard a young girl screaming. Now I couldn't just let that lie, so I went to investigate." Issei paused here and cleared his throat.

"I don't suppose you could get me a drink?"

Rias flushed in embarrassment at having forgotten to offer him one, with how exhausted he looked. With the wave of her hand a glass of cold water appeared. Issei nodded his thanks, and took a gulp before continuing.

"As I was saying. I heard a scream and went to investigate. I walked between two houses and found myself in the backyard of another. It had been torn up something fierce. This fallen priest had Koneko, who I recognized from school, pinned to a wall. Another girl that I didn't know was lying a few feet away, unconscious. The priest had a hand over Koneko's mouth, and was stabbing her with his lightsaber." Here Issei shrugged.

"I took offence to that. So I shot him. Not sure how he was able to avoid being killed, but I did blow his leg of. He started cursing at me, so I shot him in the chest. A flashbang went off, and I lost sight of him. Koneko was bleeding badly and in pain. I used a spell to stop the bleeding and a few painkillers to stop her from thrashing about, but that's the extent of my emergency healing. So I picked up her and the other girl, stopped by my house to drop the other girl off, and brought Koneko here."

Issei yawned and stood up.

"I'm sure you have more questions, but I've been awake for almost 24 hours. So how 'bout we talk more in the morning, okaysoundsgoodbye."

He had stepped out and closed the door behind himself before she could even say anything. She just sighed and stood up.

"I'll go and check on Koneko. Really, that boy is a strange one, don't you think Kiba?" She asked her knight.

Kiba nodded in agreement. "Especially since he was talking in German the entire time." At her raised eyebrows, he chuckled. "Didn't you notice? He'll be a fun one, I'm sure."

Kiba's form blurred and he appeared at the top of the stairs. "I think I'll follow in his footsteps and get some sleep. Wake me up when Koneko wakes up."

He blurred again and was gone. Rias just made her way up the stairs, her mind trying to puzzle out the enigma known as Issei Hyoudou. He knew too much that he shouldn't. He did things that were not fitting with his usual attitude. Issei was a shy teenager, not some mysterious person who could take on Fallen Angels and Fallen Priests alike. Who and what was he?

(•_•)7

With a sigh, Sona fixed her glasses, letting the morning sun glint off them. When Rias had asked her to look up Issei Hyoudou she had done so. Her reports had turned up nothing out of the ordinary, except that he had a habit of leaving the country. But even that wasn't too strange as Issei had family in America, which was his normal destination. He had gone to a few other countries, France, Germany, England, China, even Vietnam. But all of those were with his parents. All in all, Issei was a normal high schooler, with normal grades, a normal family, and a normal life. Though she wasn't quite sure she could count his friends as normal, but that was more of a reflection of the kind of students that were allowed in the school, rather than Issei's personal behavior.

Come to think of it, she should really recommend that the school attempt to attract more males. As it was they had very few normal males, and though Kiba and Issei did an acceptable job of representing the school, the rest of their male students? Well…

A knock on the door shook her from her thoughts. It swung open, and her crimson haired friend stepped inside.

"Hello, Rias," she said, without looking up. "I have the reports you wanted. There really isn't much there. Or at least, nothing out of the ordinary. He travels a lot, but that's because of his parents. He doesn't have many friends, but that's mostly the school's fault. All said, he's normal. Why did you want this anyways?"

"Oh, you know. This and that."

Sona groaned. "That is the single most uninformative thing I have ever heard."

"I know. It was meant to be." Sona looked up and glared at her childhood friend. "Oh don't be such a stick in the mud. If you want to find out why, come with me. I have a meeting with him, and I promise it'll be interesting."

Sona sighed, and shook her head. "I do have paperwork to do, you know."

"Yes I know. I also know that you don't have close to as much as you are pretending to. And, all joking aside, you don't want to miss this."

Sona perked up at that. "Oh, should I bring my peerage?"

"Yes," Rias nodded, "but not as a deterrent. More so, I think it might be a learning experience for them."

"Fine, I'll be there." Sona had already considered the pros and cons, and while it was true that she had paperwork, it was equally true that she could afford to put it off. Add in the fact that Rias thought it could be important, well. Knowledge was always useful.

"Oh good, it's in an hour at the clubhouse. See you soon!" Rias picked up the report Sona had acquired and strolled out of the room. Well, at least this could be interesting, right?

(•_•)7

An hour later, Sona walked into the Occult Club's house. Rias was there, as expected, as was her peerage, though Koneko had a bandage wrapped around her head for some reason. And across from them, sat Hyoudou Issei. It wasn't too much of a surprise to her, after all Rias had mentioned that he was the one they would be meeting, but her peerage had not been so informed. So it was understandable when Saji began yelling.

"Hey, what are you doing here, Yankee?" He was quickly shut up with a harsh smack on the head. She had said that it was understandable, not enjoyable, or very polite.

Rias spoke up to answer the chastened boy. "Oh, I invited him here. I had a few questions to ask him, and thought Sona might like to be here to. And you are?"

Ah, that's right. She hadn't introduced Rias to Saji yet. Well, he knew of her, but she didn't know him. She had been planning on it, but things had come up. Well, better late than never. "This is the newest member of the student council, Saji. Saji, I'm sure you already know Rias. By the way, Rias, why did you ask me to come here?"

Rias shrugged. "I can't say. But I just had a feeling that you'd want to be here for this, don't know why."

"She's right, it does save me some time anyways," Issei said, finally speaking up for the first time. "I had planned on finding you later, but this saves us both time. So then, please sit. I have quite a lot to tell you, and quite a lot to ask as well. But seeing as I'm the guest here, you start Miss Gremory. Ask away."

Sona settled into a couch to the left of Issei and the right of Rias and the rest of her peerage followed suit. Once they were all settled in, Rias began.

"Yesterday, I had sent Koneko on a routine job. She was supposed to be back in about an hour or so. After she was gone for close to two, I began to get worried. I was going to have Akeno open a portal to her location, when Issei came stumbling through the door carrying an injured Koneko. She was almost dead. Actually, Issei, she probably would have been dead if it wasn't for you. I couldn't heal her, the light poisoning was too strong after that priest got to her, and… Actually, do you even know what I'm talking about, Issei? I know you know about the supernatural, seeing as you killed a fallen angel, but…"

"Wait a minute!" Sona had been getting more and more confused with what was going on, but enough was enough. "You're telling me that Koneko, one of the toughest rooks I've seen outside of Ultimate-class, almost died, that there was a fallen angel in Kuoh City, and that Issei, a completely average student, managed to kill it?"

Issei smiled cheekily at her. "Exactly correct!"

"And you did this, while showing no signs of any prior interactions with the supernatural?"

"Well," Issei shrugged, "I guess my attempts to hide all traces worked. Though, beyond that, I haven't really interacted with the supernatural much. I've learned as much as I can, but only because I find it interesting. Call it a… scholarly interest, perhaps. I know of devils and fallen and the three Factions. I know your history, I know what your kind do and are. But I don't really care, beyond a peripheral interest."

"And the Fallen you killed?" Sona spoke up.

"Ah, that's right!" Rias slammed her fist into her hand. "I was going to ask you, how did you know her name, and if you did know what she was, why'd you let her get so close?"

Issei shrugged. "After Raynare asked me out, I was curious about why such a beautiful girl who smelled so strongly of magic would care about little old me. So I asked an old friend of mine if they knew anything. She told me that Raynare of the Gregori was a mid-ranked angel, until she was convinced to fall by Kokabiel, Fallen Lord of the Stars."

"Oh?" It was Kiba this time. "And who was your friend? A fallen? Another magician like you are?"

"Heh," Issei chuckled. "Jumping to conclusions, Prince. I'm no magician, if anything I'm closer to a shaman, though even that's not entirely true. And, though I do know some people who are affiliated with the fallen, if I went to them for information they'd charge me. If needs must, I can call them up, but I'd rather not. No, my friend is an exorcist with the Church. Irina Shidou, wielder of Excalibur Rapidly. I believe you know who I speak of, Survivor of the Holy Sword Project, Subject 37."

Sona had already grown wary when he mentioned that his friend was in the Church. When he mentioned that she was the wielder of an Excalibur fragment, she had already begun to cast a spell. Water rushed into the room, pooling around Issei in a translucent dome.

"Oi, Kaichou!" Of course Saji was the one to speak up, though she could see the rest of her peerage was startled by her actions. Of course they were, they must have thought she was attacking Issei. But that was far from it. After all, if she wanted him dead, all she would have had to do was do nothing. And what she did do was much too late.

A streak of silver, and then a blade cleaved towards Issei's head, colliding with the dome of water Sona had summoned forth and carving through it.

"Enough!" Rias shouted. "Kiba, stand down!"

His blade stopping inches from Issei's throat, Kiba snarled at her, almost feral in his wrath, hand still clutching the blade which had almost ended Issei's life.

Issei just looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You really are mad about that, aren't you? I'd say you should move past it."

Now both Rias and Kiba were glaring at him, Kiba's hand still twitching. "Issei," Rias spoke through gritted teeth. "While I am thankful for you saving Koneko, my patience can run out. I take it that you knew who Kiba was, so you should know better than to antagonize him. Explain why you did so, and if it isn't sufficient you will leave."

Issei shrugged. "I wanted to see what he was made of. And see if his hate towards the Church was stronger than his loyalty to you. I had guessed that he would try to kill me, except in my calculations he would have succeeded. You prove me wrong. But I do apologize. My actions were in no way polite. As a token of my sincerity, I would like to loan you this."

Issei pulled a bundle of cloth off his back and tossed it towards Kiba. It clattered to the table. Kiba reached for it cautiously. He pulled the cloth away and the sword he still held to Issei's throat clattered to the ground. A pristine sword sat in the middle of the table. It shone with the light of a thousand stars, and both Sona and Rias' peerages flinched back.

Sona spun towards Issei. "What is THAT?"

"Excalibur Mimic. One of the seven fragments that Excalibur was shattered into. A holy sword, or so it is called. In truth, I am of the belief that it is holy only in name. But that's another conversation entirely." Issei waved his hand nonchalantly, as if bringing one of the most guarded artifacts of the Church into Devil territory was an everyday occurrence.

"That's not what I meant. I wanted to know why you would bring it here, and how you even got your hands on it."

"So Kiba could destroy it." Issei's answer took everybody by surprise. This was almost a one of a kind weapon, and Issei was just telling them that Kiba could destroy it. Sona's eyes narrowed. He hadn't answered how he got it.

"Catch." Koneko spoke up, voicing Sona's thoughts exactly. Of course, everyone jumped in surprise, having forgot that she was there. To be fair, none of her peerage other than Saji had said anything, nor had Rias' Queen. But Koneko was known to be quiet, almost chronically. Sona knew why, and so she would never push Koneko to interact more with other students, even though Sona was the Student Council president, and doing such things was part of her job.

Akeno, Rias' Queen, tilted her head. "Oh? What do you mean by that, Ko-tan."

Koneko glared at her for the nickname, but answered all the same. "What's the catch?"

Issei chuckled. "She gets it. Yeah, there's a price. Because, see, that sword belongs to Irina. I convinced her to loan it to me. She's able to cover for me for a bit, but if the Church doesn't get it back soon, then she'll be executed as a traitor for giving it away." They all stared at him in disbelief.

"What? You'd ask your friend to put her life on the line for you?" This time Sona's bishop, Momo, spoke up.

"Not quite. I wouldn't let her die. Should worse come to worse, I can call in a few favours. She won't be killed, but still would be excommunicated. So Kiba," he addressed the blond boy who was still standing in the middle of the room. "What will you do? One of the objects of your hatred, yours to destroy. The only cost is that you'll be ruining a girl's life. But then, why would you care? You're a devil, she's an exorcist. Do it, devil." Issei pulled a hammer from where it hung on his belt, and held it out to Kiba.

Rias looked like she wanted to say something, but held her tongue. Kiba took the hammer and held it for a few seconds, considering it. Then he raised it over his head before bringing it down with a crash.

The table creaked as the hammer pounded down. Kiba stepped back, leaving the hammer embedded in the table. Next to it, Excalibur Mimic sat, untouched.

"Hah!" Kiba gave a mirthless laugh. "The object of all my hatred sits before me, and I still can't destroy it. I promised that I'd avenge them, and yet I can't. What kind of man does that make me?"

"A better man than much of the Church," Issei said. "And a better man than I expected out of you. Not many have the compassion that you show. Were you anything but a devil, that would serve you well. As is, it is a failing. But not, I must admit, an unpleasant one. I have something else for you." He pulled a letter from a jacket pocket and tossed it on the table, picking up Excalibur Mimic as he did so. "It's from your friends. You know, the ones who were part of the Holy Sword Project. Don't get your hopes up, they are dead. But that has their last words on earth. Treasure it, burn it, lock it away. I don't really care. I really must go now. I'm sure that you have more questions, but I promised Irina that I'd have the sword back within 48 hours of when I borrowed it. So, I have a plane to catch to Italy. But if you want to meet me here at the same time in 2 days, I'll answer a few more questions, if that's what you'd want of me." He turned and strode towards the door.

"Why are you so perfect?" Issei turned and looked back questioningly at Koneko, who had spoken up once more. "It's like you know what's going to happen."

Issei gave a hollow chuckle and shook his head. "Oh little kitten, I am not perfect. This was only possible because I already had plans for when you would discover that I was a magician, for that is what I am. No, I know too well I am not perfect. And in time, you too will know the tragic extent of my failings."

He let the door swing shut, striding out into the warm afternoon air, sword bundle hung over his shoulder. Kiba still stood in the center of the room, clutching the letter Issei had given him as if it was a lifeline. To be fair, Sona thought, it might as well be one.

"Well you were right," Sona said, turning to Rias. "That was interesting."

(•_•)7

HE gazed upon that which no man should bear witness to. IT found him. SHE broke him. THEY saved him.


End file.
